Juan de Oņate, Conquistador

Juan de Oņate is a little studied conquistador, however he is probably the most important Spaniard to the history of the United States. Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, Niza, and Espejo are all more well known, but Oņate is responsible for Spanish colonization in what is now the United States. Part of this is due to American's anglo-centric view of history, but to a large degree the short shrift given Oņate is a reflection of Spanish culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Juan de Oņate was born in Pánuco, New Spain, near present day Zacatecas, Mexico, about 1552. He was born into an extremely affluent family whose wealth helped finance his later settlement of New Mexico. His father, Cristóbal de Oņate, who had been a Captain in Cortes army of conquest of Mexico, was co-owner of a silver mine that was one of the largest silver discoveries in North America. His mother, Catalina de Salazar was the daughter of New Spain's retired treasury officer Gonzalo de Salazar. Juan de Oņate was Basque on his father's side and Andalusian on his mother's side.

Don Juan married Isabel de Tolosa Cortés Moctezuma, daughter of Juan de Tolosa and Leonor Cortés Moctezuma in the late 1580s. Doņa Isabel was the granddaughter of the conqueror Fernando Cortés and Isabel Moctezuma, the daughter of the late Aztec emperor Moctezuma (kozlowski 3). Don Juan and Doņa Isabel had two children. Their son Cristóbal de Naharriondo Pérez Oņate y Cortés Moctezuma was born about 1590 in Mexico City, New Spain. Their daughter, María de Oņate y Cortés Moctezuma was born in late 1598 or early 1599 at the family home in Pánuco, New Spain.

The fact that he was not a peninsulare, and his wife's lineage would cause Oņate no end of trouble in his quest to colonize Nueva Andulucia (New Mexico). The Spaniard's belief was that only those born in Spain were truly Spanish, and were not deserving of the glory and riches of conquest. On 21 September 1595 Oņate was awarded a contract by King Phillip II to settle New Mexico. This contract was probably issued by Viceroy Velasco of New Spain, but at any rate it was endorsed by Phillip II (Bancroft 111).

For nearly four years Oņate was held up by those who wanted to claim the contract for themselves. Soon after the contract was issued The Viceroyalty of Mexico was changed and the Count of Monterrey succeeded Velasco. This naturally caused some delay, but as Bancroft notes, there were more serious causes at work (Bancroft 117). The unusual prerogatives granted to Oņate had created a great deal of jealousy, and his rivals appear to have had a great deal of influence with the new Viceroy. In January 1598, Oņate was finally allowed to begin the march north (Villagra 108).

On 4 May 1598 Oņate and the band of colonists crossed the Rio Grande at present day El Paso, Texas. This predates the settlement of Jamestown by at least ten years, and the landing of the Pilgrims by twenty-two years. Oņate served as Governor of New Mexico until 1608. His enemies were still at work and had him charged with cruelty to the Indians. He was banished from New Mexico for the rest of his life, and from Mexico City for four years.

For nearly three hundred years, historians have questioned the date of Oņate's colonization of New Mexico even though there were publications and documents which clearly dated the conquest. Early writers date the conquest in the years between 1591 and 1596. Most of these writers used as their source the dates of Oņate's preparation. Torquemada even insisted on an erroneous date (Read 196). Bancroft claims to be the first modern historian to correctly date the conquest. Bancroft used as his source Historia de la Nueve Mexico published in 1610 by Gaspar de Villagra (Bancroft 112). This work has now become the definitive work on Oņate's colonization.

Until 1998 there were no public monuments to Oņate any where in the United States. The only monument to his passage was an inscription carved into El Morro noting his passing the ancient formation in the year 1605. In 1998 a statue was erected in El Paso, Texas commemorating Oņate's colonization and his crossing the Rio Grande at El Paso. In 1999 the city council of Albuquerque, New Mexico voted to erect a monument to the conquistador. Both of these monuments have met with a great deal of controversy. It seems that four hundred years after his conquest, he still has many enemies who would seek to deny Oņate his due.

© Charles E. Dellert, Jr.